During the analysis of the different interview results, a pattern was noticed that those who were more of an extrovert and an outdoors/active person (i.e. hiking, skiing, etc.) had a tendency to be a console gamer rather than a PC gamer meaning they preferred PlayStation and Xbox to Dell and Asus. The preference for console gaming also, as a result, tends to narrow one’s social capital. For one, console game while still providing a very global virtual community is not as social as virtual communities in PC games. This leads to console gamer either playing by themselves, playing with other online user without a social connection forming, or more face to face social interactions by having people over to play on the same console.

This speculation is based on 4 instances in which there existed a direct correlation between activeness and preference for console gaming. The interviewees were B-Rye Bread, Peter Valesares, Outdoors Man, and Jorge da Lowrider. B-Rye Bread likes to hike, ski, fish, and play basketball. He prefers to play on the Xbox. Peter recently went on a hike hinting at his activeness and did not play videogames over the weekend. He prefers to play GTA V, a game meant for console with a PC adaptation. Jorge likes the outdoors and plays basketball and surfs. His gaming experience is limited to console gaming. Outdoors Man likes hike, bike, and ski. He prefers the PS3 and has little to no experience with PC gaming, specifically MMORPGs.

Based on qualitative research gathered on April 6, 2015 undergraduate students at a private university in Colorado revealed that gaming somewhat replaced the need for social media. In many studies it was noticed that people who tend not to game spend several hours on social media. A specific gamer noted that, “Social media is a lot more stressful than stress relieving, but games are not stressful at all. Twitter is particularly stressful. Play games more because they are fun and not really because they relieve stress. But having fun does relieve stress innately.” Another person who spends up to 10 hours on Reddit and 2 hours on Facebook spends very little time gaming. Throughout the data it seemed apparent that individuals who spent large quantities of time (5 or more hours a day) on social media were much less likely to consider themselves active gamers. This could relate back to the first individual’s belief that social media lacks the innate fun of games, making social media a stressful pass time. On the other hand it’s possible that gaming and social media occupy the same space, a proxy for human interaction, which causes people to be less likely to engage in both as the need is already sated by the other.

Based on research collected within the WRIT 1133 class regarding free time and gaming behaviors, we found a correlation between people that are physically active and that have more social capital outside the online gaming community. If people are outside, either playing sports or doing other activities besides sitting in their room, they tend to not generally play as many video games or spend their free time making social connections through them. When a student was asked what they did this weekend, they replied that they went on a hike. It is not surprising then when asked if they played videogames over the same weekend at all, they said no. When you are outside interacting with others, this increases your ability to gain social capital in real life. A student who played on many sports teams and liked to surf, said that most of his social interaction came from people face to face and that is what he preferred. With a limited amount of leisure time, those that are constantly physically active leave little time to playing video games and feel no need to connect with others online because they gain their social capital and interactions offline.

Based on a set of interviews with many college students enrolled in WRIT 1133 World of Warcraft section we were able find a pattern in the social aspects of leisure. This data analyzed on April 6th, 2015. After going through the data there were two major leisure activities, physical activities and gaming. People that are in the category of video games tend to prefer their social interactions over the internet and not in person. One interviewee who prefers playing video games over physical activities said, “I find online communication easier because I don’t have to deal with them if I don’t want to, however I find real life social interaction more rewarding.” Whereas people that are involved in physical activities prefer being with people in real life. An example of this was one interviewee who enjoys sports and physical activities, but only spends 2 hours a day on social media. It seems that both groups of people get involved in these activities for entertainment mainly.

Based on qualitative interview data collected on April 6, 2015, undergraduate students at the University of Denver who would not consider themselves very dedicated gamers tend to play less socially interactive games. Jorge da Lowrider, a person interview in todays class, deemed himself a casual video game player. He said when he does get the time to play video games he plays more counsel games with friends. The Hunt, another anonymous student interviewed stated he preferred playing video games with friends in real life or single player games when he does find the time to play. Off these findings we can determine that more casual gamer prefer playing single player and multiplayer games accompanied by real life friends. From this data it could be said that more dedicated gamers prefer MMORPG and other socially interactive games that involve social interaction through the game and not real life.

Based on the qualitative interview data that was collected on April 6,2015, undergraduate students at a private university in Colorado, the University of Denver, revealed social media is a very large part of most, if not all of the students. When the students who were asked about it, they revealed that on an average day, they spend between at least two and five hours! Those numbers show how much our society is impacted by the role of social media and how it can take over a day, and in turn take over lives. Another pattern that was clear with social media was that the most two popular forms were Instagram and Facebook. George, a 19 year old college student when asked “What are your top 3 social media sites?” Replied with; “Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.” And “Monkey” when asked “What type if social media do you use if you use any at all?” Replied with, “Instagram the most” further proving that Instagram and Facebook are the two most popular forms of social media. A 19 year old male college student was asked “How much time per day do you use on social media?” to which he replied, “5 hours” while an 18 year old female subject was quoted saying she spends “In total, at least two hours a day” on social media when asked “How much time would you say you spend on social media websites?” These just further prove that social media is very big in our society today.

Based on a collection of interviews conducted on April 7, 2014, undergraduate students at a private university in Colorado showed the vast majority of these students can be considered as non-devoted players. Most people play video games on occasion. There are a variety of genres of games the players choose to game. The most popular was console games, consisting of RPGs, first person shooters, sports. Following that was online computer games. According to one student, she says she prefers console games because, “games are more social especially when there is a group people all gaming in a basement together. One of her favorite games to play with friends is Super Smash Bros on the Wii.” Most people began to play WoW because it was required as part of the class. Not too many are very familiar with the game. The reason for players being mostly occasional gamers is because of the multitude of different options they have to take up their time. For example, since each person lives in Colorado, many choose outdoors as a primary activity. Also, many called sports and physical activity as another time consumer. One student tells that besides homework, working out is his next greatest time commitment. Lastly, school and homework attributed to the general lack of heavy gamers. All in all, based on the research from a compilation of interviews of Colorado private university students, done on April 7, 2014, most people are considered casual gamers.

As a new player to the game, I am a very incompetent player. With that in mind it takes me much longer to complete quests because at first, I have no idea how to accomplish said quests. As a level 1 gnome warrior in the normal realm, I am still stuck in gnomeland. For my second quest I was asked to save the survivors from the crazed gnome lepers. After five minutes without any sort of accomplishment in regards to this quest I noticed that some very jeopardy-like music began playing. This made me propose the question: “After five minutes of accomplishing nothing, does the doldrums music set in, and if so does it vary.”

After exited the game and this time, intentionally trying to take longer than five minutes, I found that doing this five consecutive times yielded the same result. Each time after the five-minute mark, the jeopardy-like music would set in, signifying that there was a serious lull in gameplay.

I spent ten minutes observing the chat and actions of players by the entrance of Orgrimmar, the Horde’s capital city. There were many people there that were battling each other in duels. These duels consisted of only 1v1’s as practice for arena. There was a repetitive amount of sportsmanship and honor held between these matches. After every match, the player that lost would be instantly healed by the opponent or spectating healers followed with the winner or loser saying, “good duel” or “gd”.

This is one example of communication that was very repetitive between players who dueled each other. From this I can assume that players who usually duel each near the entrance of Orgrimmar are there to get better at Player vs. Player (PvP) and are very mature in helping one another. A lot of tips and advice was given to losing players by the winner on what the opponent did good against them and also what the opponent can work on for next time.